A factory owner has been prosecuted following an incident in which a worker's hand was severed, employers liability insurance holders were told.
Knowsley Magistrates Court fined Matrix Polymers of Northampton £3,500 and instructed the company to pay costs of £3,500 last week.
The firm admitted to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, as it had not stopped people accessing dangerous machine parts.
"It is vital that manufacturing firms make sure that dangerous parts on machines are properly guarded to prevent further injuries of this kind," Harry Baker, the investigating inspector at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said.
Mr Baker was referring to an incident at the farm's factory in Prescot on April 2nd 2009. On this date, Gary McKeown had his left hand sheared off by the rotating parts on a blender when it became stuck in the machine. Employers liability insurance holders were told that although his hand was reattached by doctors, he lost his thumb and fingers.
According to the HSE, there were 3,215 major injuries to workers in north-west England in 2009/10.
